Ex-Deltona events manager cites 'hostility' in letter

Katie Kustura @katiekustura

Monday

Feb 5, 2018 at 5:44 PMFeb 6, 2018 at 1:12 PM

DELTONA — Citing endless hours, an undercutting assistant and conditions that made him once think "about driving off a bridge," the resignation letter from the former events manager of Deltona's recently opened community center paints a picture of exhaustion.

Until Monday, city officials refused to make public Chris O'Donnell's letter, claiming it was exempt from Florida public records laws because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

In the letter to City Manager Jane Shang, dated Jan. 11, O'Donnell acknowledged that he and Shang "have not seen eye to eye all of the time" in the management of The Center, for which O'Donnell was sorry.

"I, in no way wanted to ever cause you grief in making the decision to hire me," O'Donnell, who finished work the week of the Jan. 29, wrote.

He said he realized after a phone conversation the previous day that he "was becoming an obstacle going forward."

In the second week of January, O'Donnell estimated he'd work more than 80 hours.

"I do not have the stamina to keep this pace up and I really do not want to put these kind of hours in when I am not appreciated," O'Donnell wrote.

"When a job starts making me ill and no longer is enjoyable, then it is very hard to continue to sell and be enthusiastic about what you are doing," O'Donnell wrote, adding that he was worn down both physically and mentally.

He said it was obvious Shang liked his assistant, Inez Nazario-Vega, who also serves as president of the Volusia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Nazario-Vega said Tuesday she has no intentions of trying to move from staff manager to events manager, nor did she say she would leave her chamber post.

"My first and foremost priority is my job, and I will not do anything to compromise that," Nazario-Vega said.

O'Donnell claims Nazario-Vega would change decisions he'd made without telling him and didn't want to work on weekends.

He also said she would tell him of her dislike for working with him while they were setting up for an event.

Nazario-Vega said she was saddened by O'Donnell's perception of their working relationship.

"We did have a difference in working style, but not one that couldn’t have been worked through," Nazario-Vega said.

The relationships with Shang and Nazario-Vega weren't the only factors, O'Donnell's letter states.

On June 12, in a City Commission discussion about The Center, former Deltona Commissioner Brian Soukup said he did not believe O'Donnell was the right person for the job, meeting minutes show.

"I have worked through the most hostile conditions, from commissioners wanting me fired the first month I was here, and to all of the negative comments I have endured over the past 11 months," O'Donnell wrote.

He said what he thought was a "dream job" had become a "dream nightmare."

The morning of Jan. 11 he decided "instead of driving off of a bridge, I was going to pick myself up and call what I have done a real accomplishment, and move on to something new."

O'Donnell ended the letter by saying he wouldn't jeopardize his health and happiness for any job, and the job he'd left in Texas wanted him "to work insane hours and do it all alone."

"I make my decision now to leave because of even crazier hours, and a system I no longer have the energy to fight with."

Following Monday night's City Commission meeting, Shang said O'Donnell's letter speaks for itself.

She also said the city has advertised the events manager position, and a city staffer will help in the interim.

The Center, a 30,000-square-foot building at 1640 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd., opened to the public for the first time Dec. 30. It’s designed to host weddings, parties, meetings, community events and school dances, with a part of the space reserved for Volusia County’s Council on Aging.

Mayor John Masiarczyk said O'Donnell had taken on a daunting task in his position with The Center.

"I think he had a lot on his plate and a lot of stress on him, and he did an excellent job while he was there," Masiarczyk said.

The city's attorney, Marsha Segal-George, wrote that O'Donnell did not want the information shared and because it concerned a "sensitive health issue," the letter was exempt under a public-record law protecting participation in an employee assistance program.

In a Friday email to Shang, Segal-George wrote: "Protection of his resignation letter by the city under (HIPAA) is limited to his employment with the city. Mr. O'Donnell no longer works for the city and that severs the (HIPAA) connection and the privacy rule is no longer effective. ... The document is now a public record."

The city released the letter to News-Journal Editor Pat Rice on Monday.

O'Donnell said the city didn't ask his permission to release the resignation letter.

"They just said they were going to release either Friday afternoon or Monday. It is what it is, and I can't discuss it," he said, adding that now the public will know why he left, though he doesn't think the reasons for his departure will come as a surprise.

"I think everybody understands the problems in Deltona, and that's all I can say," O'Donnell said.

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